Meet Paige Hathaway: The Fitness Model Talks Weight Lifting, Cheese Pizza, and What It's Like to Be Internet Famous

Hundreds of thousands of people follow her selfies. And we're not at all surprised.

Paige Hathaway is a machine at the gym: The last time she did a dumbbell chest press, she used 45 pounds of weight—in each hand.

She's also a machine on social media: More than 697,000 people on Instagram and 417,000 on Facebook follow her for muscle-tastic selfies and motivational pushes. ("There will be obstacles," Paige posted in January. "There will be trial and error. There will be sweat and there might even be tears. Anyone who has ever been great at what they do has been thru some sort of hardship.")

Want to get to know Paige even better? We asked her all about self-love, guilty pleasures, and crazy fans.

You seem really confident in your body—what advice do you have for women who want that for themselves?
I think that being healthy is sexy. I think that once you're healthy and you're happy, it gives you more confidence. I used to not be confident—I used to put on a dress and not feel like I filled it out. But I love how weight training has just changed my body. Weight training has just guided my life in a better direction. I'm more focused, I'm more confident, my life is just so much better—I feel like I've connected the dots. … I'm a huge advocate for women to do weight training. One misconception I'm sure you've heard a lot is that if girls go to the gym, they're going to look manly, they're going to look bulky, or they're just not going to look feminine anymore. I think strength training helps your body, and it defines your muscles and gives you a lean physique.

You take lots of fitness selfies—do you have any suggestions or tricks for women who want to take their own?
I think girls just need to be confident with it and have fun with it. And I always put something that's really motivational and really inspiring as my caption so it's not just a selfie, but maybe you'll see the picture and read my caption and be like, 'Oh, I want this. I want to motivate people and be confident like this.' And have fun with it. Don't take selfies too seriously. I love crazy tights, so you'll see me in a lot of crazy colored tights and just a cute sports bra that goes with them. And I love hats, and I also love cool sneakers. So that's probably my go-to selfie outfit. For the pose, it's all about the lighting.

How many selfies do you take before you've found the right one?
I think I take maybe five. I've seen people—even guys—take a slew of pictures, and I'm like, 'Why do you have to take this many photos?' But yeah, I take a handful. You've got to have a little bit to choose from.

Do you have any crazy fan stories?
Yes. Just this past weekend, I was in Australia for a fit expo, and a guy bought me this necklace from Swarovski crystals. I was kind of put on the spot, and everyone was looking. I was so embarrassed. I was like, 'What is this guy doing? I hope he's not proposing.' Because he got out this small box, and I was like, 'Ah!' I didn't know what to say—I just could say thank you. So that was pretty crazy. I get proposed to and asked to be guys' girlfriend all the time.

Online?
And in person. People come to fit expos with 'Will you marry me?' T-shirts. It's kind of strange.

Being so present on social media, you're of course going to get your fair share of rude commenters, too—how do you deal with that?
Yes, I do get my fair share, because everyone has different tastes of how someone should look. From time to time I get comments of, 'Oh, girls shouldn't have muscle,' or something like that. But I just shake it off. I know that you can't please everyone. You just can't let negativity, or what somebody says, or their perception of how the female body should look affect you, because if you did that then you probably wouldn't get anywhere with your goal.

What is something that no one knows about a bikini competition?
Oh, man. That it takes 150,000 percent dedication. It is a lot of work. I think people don't realize how much work it is with your diet and just your dedication to get up and go to the gym a few times—not just once, but a few times—a day. You have to do cardio and weight train, and your diet is so important. I think that everyone should do a fitness show—it taught me a lot about myself, about my own strength. I think a lot of people underestimate how much work it takes.

So what's the first thing you do after a fitness competition is over?
You eat! Everything! You eat anything and everything that you've been craving for the past few months. You have to have, like, a giant, epic cheat meal.

What does your epic cheat meal consist of?
Oh my gosh, that's hard. When you ask someone who does fitness for a living what their favorite cheat meal is, they want to name like 10 things. But if I had to pick something, I like cheese pizza. I'm just a fan of cheese pizza. And I love fro-yo. You know, that ice cream that you put the toppings on? That's always a good go-to.

Do you have any favorite toppings?
I don't discriminate on the toppings. I like to use them all. But I'm a chocolate fan. I try to stay away from the fruit. I'm like, 'Eh, I don't want the fruit. We'll take the Reese's, the Kit Kats, the Oreos.'

Do you have any other guilty pleasures for when you have downtime?
I have a huge sweet tooth. So what I'll do is #sweettoothsunday, but instead of eating fro-yo or a cupcake or something like that, I'll take something that I'm craving, and I'll make a healthy version. You can make brownies out of black beans, and it tastes just like brownies. I mean, not as good as brownies, but it is totally a sweet-tooth fix for brownies. I'll make cupcakes out of protein powder. The sky's the limit when it comes to substituting healthy alternatives. I make the recipes up, and sometimes it takes me a few times to get the exact taste down. Then I just post it on my social media, and a lot of people look forward to it.

What's your favorite healthy snack food?
I love bell peppers. I always keep a bag of bell peppers in my cooler or in my purse to just take around with me if I'm ever hungry, just to munch on. I like the red ones—they're my favorite.

And what are your favorite exercise moves or workouts?
I really like working out my legs and my butt. I feel like that's the part that I need to work on the most. For my lower half of my body, I love to do plyometrics. I love plyometrics just because even when you don't have a gym and you're at home, you can do plyometrics, easy.

But also, if someone was like, 'If you could work out one body part, what would you work out?' I think I'd probably work out my arms and shoulders with free weights—curls and shoulder press and stuff like that. Just because when I work out my arms and shoulders, that's where I see the most instant results. That's probably why a lot of guys only work out their arms.